He should've picked Clinton to run with him.
Nah, too soon after the 90s.
"Why did Kerry pick Edwards" is a good question. The answer is that he was young and pretty and folksy, and he had cute kids. Other than that, he was a complete lightweight saying things like (paraphrasing) "the government should start infiltrating terrorist groups to spy on them" as if this was the most brilliant original idea ever, or "these people in wheelchairs will get up and walk again because of stem cells if we win."